1. Field
The following invention disclosure is generally concerned with electronic systems for disabling equipment in response to failure to make timely payments on a corresponding loan.
2. Prior Art
Systems have been introduced to interrupt the ignition system of an automobile on a regular, timed interval. To re-enable the car, a user is required return to a payment center, make a payment, and have an agent reset the interrupt mechanism for a renewed timed interval. The system can only be reset by an authorized agent as it requires a key held in escrow at the payment center. While the system is effective in encouraging customers to repay their auto loans in timely fashion, it has extreme overhead considerations. The system requires a customer to travel to the payment center each payment period of the loan. Of course, this prevents the user from taking extended travel without first making an advanced payment. In addition, a user must arrive at the payment center during the hours in which it is open. Still further, a user must wait to receive the attention of the agent. As these problems pose considerable inconvenience, these systems suffer from limited utility. It is desirable to automate the reset process so a user is not required to travel to a payment center.
Monthly payments to utility companies are made with very high reliability. This is partly due to the threat of service cut-off. Failure to pay a phone bill, will result in loss of telephone services. Thus, phone bills are paid regularly because failure to do so has immediate and tangible results. Monthly payments on an automobile loan are not likely to be as regular. Although a car may be repossessed, the process is expensive and complex and thus the threat of doing so is less immediate than telephone service cut-off. To encourage reliable loan re-payments, it is desirable to have a `service` cut-off for equipment related to loans.
Techniques have been discovered which provide very novel uses of automobile ignition interruption systems, particularly with respect to those which may be reset with minimal intrusion and burden upon a user's freedom. While systems and inventions of the art are designed to achieve particular goals and objectives, some of those being no less than remarkable, these inventions have limitations which prevent their use in new ways now possible. These inventions are not used and cannot be used to realize the advantages and objectives of the present invention.